Mistaken Identity II  Glass Universe
by millenium-writer
Summary: New York and the surrounding states are a graveyard. Peter Parker has lost everyone he held dear. And now, the one who made all this happen, offers him a chance for revenge. A pity the one he wants dead is trying to stop the mad Goddess before all is lost


Welcome.

You've stumbled in on the middle of the story, as it were. Understanding isn't really necessary, and it might not even help, heh.

If you have any questions, simply direct yourself to the official Mistaken Identity forum, by clicking on the forums tab at the fanfiction home page, then clicking the comics section. Finally, click the Spiderman section, and scroll down until you see the Mistaken Identity link.

I'll answer any questions you have, so hopefully, you won't give up on reading this in disgust because you have no idea of what's going on.

Ok? Great, on to the show.

Disclaimer: I don't own Spiderman, nor Ghost Rider. Marvel does. I don't own Urd, Skuld, Peorth, Lind, Belldandy, Keiichi, or anyone else from Ah! Megami-sama. Kosuke Fujishima does.

I do, however, own Mato Hibiki, Noir, and Kevin and Erika Devonshire.

I will totally bite you if you try taking my precious away from me. It's ourssses.

-

Mistaken Identity II

Chapter one

Lay your weary head to rest, don't you cry no more...

Moving frantically, he pulled a slab of concrete the size of a small bus off of the pile as if it were made of cardboard. His costume was torn in some places, stained with blood and worse in others, and still the Spectacular Spiderman tore through rubble faster than humanly possible.

New York city was in shambles after the meteor impact. Millions were dead in the surrounding states. Whatever had happened upon impact had done surprisingly little damage to the city itself. That said, it looked like the city of the Damned.

Only a few buildings had actually collapsed, and thankfully, the one that Mary Jane Watson lived in was not among them.

Bony hands touched the remains of a wall next to him, raked down it's length, leaving molten trails behind as the Ghost Rider carefully cut a doorway into the reinforced concrete. "**Are you sure this is the right floor?**"

"I'm sure." Peter ripped free a tangle of steel rebar, and sprinted down the ruined hallway to Mary Jane's apartment. Kicking in the shattered remains of her front door, he hauled a warped, cast iron bathtub out of his way and flung it into the hall.

The Ghost Rider moved to follow him inside, but stopped as a horrible wail echoed throughout the building. It was the sound of utter suffering, and the flames that surrounded the hell biker's head burned blue in sympathy.

Hours later, Peter knelt at the foot of the make-shift grave he had buried the love of his life in.

"There's nothing left... Mary Jane... Aunt May... I have nothing left..."

"**No.**" The Ghost Rider steped closer, he had remained silent since they had found Mary Jane. "**There is one thing left. Vengeance.**"

Peter Parker slowly turned to look at the only other living person in New York. His eyes were faintly red, and lines ran down his cheeks where the tear he hadn't brushed away had dried. _Is that all I have?_

"Yes... And I." A voice, soft and feminine, drifted in from behind them. "I..."

The pair turned to look at the speaker.

She was petite, with long dark glossy hair that flowed down to her hips. On her face, running down from the middle of her forehead to the top of her nose, was an inverted teardrop, a matching tiny black teardrop at it's center. "I can help you get it, if you'll follow me."

"**And what do you want?**" He had made deals with the Devil before, it was how he had come to exist in his current form. _For everything that's been done, I can afford to throw away what's left._

"Revenge, the same as you." Smiling she raised her hands over her head, pulses of blue light washing over her body as she began chanting something. "Speak the name of the one who has wronged you, and seal our pact."

"**Mato Hibiki.**" Flames burst forth from the Ghost Rider's body, cocooning him in heat and rage, reducing the leather jacket he wore to black slag, warping the steel spikes that adorned it's shoulders to dripping charred nubs.

"As for you." Lowering her arms, the girl reached behind her back, and pulled out a small inky orb. "I have a special present for you... A new friend." _Something that will make you much stronger, much more useful to me than a weepy nobody. But, you don't need to know that. Oh, Mato... Why did you run? I can't decide if I should chase you, or just wait until you come back. Decisions, decisions, decisions._

Watching, entranced, Peter knelt motionless as the orb uncoiled itself, and latched onto his face.

-

White sandy beach stretched on for miles, past the limits of human sight.

The view was idyllic.

An endless sheet of azure water reached out to touch the horizon.

It was paradise.

White fluffy clouds drifted across the sapphire blue sky to kiss the ends of the earth, where blue met blue, and a dazzling sunset of rose and yellow ochre blended together in a wash of beauty that made the eye water, and the heart swell.

It was _hell_.

**This is what you want, yes?**

"No."

-

An endless sea of fire scorched flesh from bone.

It was horror.

The moans of the damned swept across the endless barren plain like a palpable wave.

It was part of his life once, long ago.

For a time, he thought it would be his home, forever more.

It was Hell itself.

**Then this, perhaps? You like it more, yes?**

"No! Yes! I don't know!"

-

There was nothing.

Nothing at all.

Simply an empty void of white. No lights, no flames, not even gravity. Simply...

Nothing.

**You are an odd existence. You long for the things that should make you suffer. You turn away from what others of your kind call paradise.**

"There aren't others like me!"

**Ah, the cry of humanity. **I am me, I am unique, I am different. **It is called denial, yes?**

"I... I don't..."

**And what is deeper? What is beneath the simple facade? What is-**

"Get out of my **mind**."

There was a horrible cry, and the void surrounding him shattered like glass.

-

"Gyaaa-kkhkk!"

Reaching up, his hand closed about the intruder's throat, cutting off the cry at it's source. Bending his legs, he tucked his heels beneath his hips and lurched half-way upright. He would have brought his fist into play, but something was holding his arm, preventing him from moving fully upright. Twisting his captured limb and leaning in close, he suddenly jerked away, freeing his arm and moving away from the woman that had held him.

"Stop! They're not-"

"He will not listen to reason Urd, his kind is one of destruction and chaos." Holding out an arm to bar Urd's path, was woman clad in a light grey, nearly white, jumpsuit. Four long ribbons with a dark lining trailed from her shoulders, and her stomach, giving the outfit the feel of a robe while remaining form fitting. Her violet hair was an oddity, cut long on the right side of her head, and short on the left. Adorning her brow was a trio of purple dots that formed an inverted triangle.

"Lind, wait, you can't-" Cut off again, Urd, eldest of the Norn sisters, Goddess of the past closed her mouth. Frustrated, she crossed her arms over her stomach, watching the Valkyrie Lind heft her axe and charge into battle. In truth, Urd was no longer a Goddess, as she had shed her Divine form in order to escape Skuld's capture, and gather others to her cause.

The sound of flesh striking flesh preceded Lind's sudden and involuntary return, as she landed in a heap at Urd's feet. "Willing to listen to me now?" Urd's long white hair tickled the Valkyrie's cheeks as she leaned down and grabbed her shoulders.

Shrugging off the helping hands, Lind hefted her axe once more. Snorting in annoyance, she tossed aside the broken shaft of once she realized it was useless, and charged back into battle.

Sighing, Urd pressed a hand against her brow, closing her eyes as Lind flew over her head and landed in an ungainly heap. "I really hope Belldandy is having a better time than I am."

-

"Um... Excuse me?" Smiling as politely as he could, Kevin ducked his head a little as he held out his empty tea cup.

"Hai? Onegai?" The girl lifted the tea pot and filled Kevin's cup. She could be described as nothing less than utterly beautiful. Her light brown hair gathered about her in a soft silken cloud, and her radiant smile made the room itself seem to glow. The only thing that hinted at her otherworldly-ness was the thin blue line, barely as wide as her pinky, that stretched from the middle of her brow to the top of her nose, and the matching tinted triangles that adorned her cheekbones.

"Uh, thank you?" Taking back his cup, he sipped at his tea, and turned to look at his sister. They were twins really, but only in the physical sense. While his sister had shoulder length hair the same shade of brown as his, and the same blue-grey eyes, they were nothing alike in manner. Unless you counted a snarky sense of humor.

At the moment, they didn't look anything like siblings.

Specifically since Kevin's hair was stained black, and had grown down to the middle of his back in the space of a few seconds, small legacy of having someone else control his body. A ragged strip of cloth torn from his shirt adorned his forehead, another strip held his hair back in a loose ponytail. His clothes were beaten up, but he felt alright considering how close a brush he had had with death. "Erika?"

"Huh?" Erika blinked. She had been staring at Kevin's face with a glassy look in her eyes for some time. And while Kevin's jeans and formerly clean orange sweatshirt were likely candidates for the trash, Erika's brown t-shirt, denim shorts and matching jacket were pristine. "What?"

"Your tea is getting cold." Kevin felt... Odd. Like he had drank too much, or had been hit in the head one too many times. He wasn't sure how he knew that, since he was too young to have had a drink in his life. _Something to do with being possessed I suppose. A natural side effect, or something went wrong?_ All that Kevin knew for sure was that he had been separated from Urd and-

"Daijoubu desu ka?" The strange girl who had led them inside her home after they had landed in the yard was looking at him. Despite not being able to communicate, the three had got along rather well, all things considered. It was hard not to. Despite the language barrier, she was the nicest person Kevin had ever met.

"Um, I have no idea what you're saying, sorry." Kevin shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated manner, trying to convey his ignorance. _I hope the others are having a better time than we are._

-

"Give them back." Holding the woman by the throat, he squeezed his hand a little tighter, then eased up. "Now." Blood trickled down his face from the slash across his cheek, his eyes scintillated bright green, illumine light flickering from deep within.

"Release her, vile D-" Lind, who had decided to charge in while the man was distracted, felt a sharp pain blossom in her cheek as she was backhanded aside. Wiping a thin rill of blood from the corner of her mouth a glove studded with two hollow knobs, the Valkyrie stood, swaying on her feet. Despite being swatted away several times now, she felt that she had given as good as she got. Not all the blood on her gloves belonged to her.

"You, shut up until I'm done." He turned his blazing emerald gaze on the heavenly warrior. "Unless you'd rather die fighting?" An unkind smile curved his lips as he squeezed his hand again, cutting off whatever reply the woman in his grasp had been about to offer. "No? Good. Now." He turned back to the task in hand. "Give. Them. **Back.**"

"Triannah." Urd stepped forward, laying a hand on Lind's shoulder, having no illusion about being able to restrain the Valkyrie should she decide to charge again. "Give him back his memory. He's much more of a danger without it, than with it."

Slapping aside Urd's hand, Lind rounded on the former Goddess. "Stripping his memory is the only way to assure that he won't wreak havoc upon the Yggdrasil system!" Yggdrasil was the system that ran the day to day operations of Heaven, and everything connected to it. In simple terms, it was a massive supercomputer on a cosmic scale that ran the universe.

Wincing, Urd rubbed her hand. As a mortal, she was much more fragile than she used to be. "I understand that you've never met him before, but I can promise you this Lind." Urd threw her shoulders back, staring intently. "The only thing that keeps him in check _is_ his memory."

"Or you could kill me." Smiling, he tilted his head to the side, a psychotic expression sweeping his face for an instant. "That could be fun too." There was nothing in his tone to indicate that he was anything but serious.

Letting out a gurgle, Triannah reached up and pressed a hand to the man's brow. There was a quick flash of light, and he released his hold on her. Clapping his hands to his face, he let out a horrified scream. No longer supported, Triannah fell back, clutching at her throat and gasping for air.

Dropping to his knees, his voice slowly died out, and he slumped over. Tears dripped from between his fingers, running down his hands, falling to patter softly on his legs.

Once it became apparent that he wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon, Urd began to move, walking in his direction. She could only stand in one place doing nothing for so long. "M-" Startled by the arm that barred her path, she turned to look at it's owner. "Lind?"

"Stay back. I'll go." Squaring her shoulders, the Valkyrie cautiously walked over. When the man didn't react, she knelt down, moving her face close to his. The sight of his glistening tear-filled eyes startled her for a moment, as did the fist that struck her in the face, knocking her onto her back.

"That... Was for not killing me when you had the chance." Getting shakily to his feet, the man wobbled for a moment, then turned to look at Urd. "Who am I?" The light that had filled his eyes before was gone. Plain, regular, run of the mill green eyes focused on the former Goddess.

Staring for a moment, Urd held out her hand, as if offering something. "You are..." Goddess or not, it was in her nature to be theatrical. "Mato Hibiki." She had no desire to ask him what the tears were for. He deserved to have some secrets, he was only human, after all.

"I was afraid of that..." Sighing, he hung his head. "I had hoped that was just a nightmare."

-

A faint burbling sound filled his ears, gently waking him from his slumber. Slowly opening his eyes, he realized that he was surrounded by fluid. He could feel it supporting his body, a body that was still very weak. Remembering nothing of importance, he closed his eyes once more. Sleep was the only thing that mattered to him, for now.

The world could wait.

-

"How many did I kill?" Mato lightly slapped his cheeks, then brushed away any remaining moisture. It wouldn't do to have people seeing him cry like that, worse still if they knew why it was that he had in the first place. _Haven't cried in years, what a waste of what it was over too. Pathetic._

She smiled. "None." Urd had made sure Triannah was ok, before sending her back to seek the attention of a healer. "But I think you got Lind's attention." Lowering her voice to a whisper, she move closer, her lips brushing his ear. "I think you rattled her confidence a bit, she's known as the strongest fighter in heaven."

"Strongest eh?" A smirk tugged up one corner of his mouth. _Figures. I never do end up fighting easy schmoes, do I? Not unless they're in friggin' packs._

Lind watched the pair, a bruise on her cheek, and a frown on her lips. Urd she had dealt with before, was even on friendly terms with, both she and her sisters. _I don't trust him, or his kind._ Lind's eyes roved up and down his figure, sizing him up.

Clothes; consisting of a yellow tunic belted at the waist, black pants bound from ankle to just below the knee in crisscrossing red cords. _Tacky._ Hair; jet black, and reaching the middle of his back, bound into a long single braid. _Distracting._ Face; long and somewhat angular, pale skin unmarked by neither blemish nor scar. _Surprising._ Eyes; bright green, though no longer glowing with barely restrained internal energy. _Deep... No! Irritating!_

Combing his fingers through his long bangs, Mato glanced over at Lind for a moment, a confused expression on his face. _She's..._ "Uhh..." _Oh, that ain't good. I've seen that look before._

"She's known as 'One Winged Lind' but it's not really an accurate name anymore." Smiling at the memory, Urd made a mental note of one or two things to check out later, when she had the time.

"Urd... Is she checkin' me out?" At Urd's surprised little noise, he pointed over at Lind, in particular, the hint of pink running across her cheeks.

"Oooo... Interesting." Smiling, Urd gave a little wave in Lind's direction, curling the fingers of her other hand over Mato's shoulder. _Must be eager for another fight. Lind's never found a match for her skills before, I wonder what- uh-oh._ Her hand slipped from his shoulder as he strode away. "Wait, where are you going?"

Shrugging, Mato continued to walk over to Lind. "Dealin' with the problem before somebody gets the wrong idea." Stopping in front of Lind, he reached out and grabbed her by the collar. "Just to be honest, I'd be happier if you'd've killed me." Smiling a little at the steely glare Lind shot him, he jerked the Valkyrie close and pressed his lips against hers. _I can deal with the opposite emotion easily enough, might as well help her on to hatin' my guts._

"Uh." Surprised, Urd simply stared, a blank expression on her face. _He calls _that _fixing the problem?_ Sighing, she pressed her hands over her hips. _Idiot._ She knew exactly how this was going to end.

Shoving the Valkyrie away before she could recover, he let out a snort. "There you go. Bet it's the first time anyone's ever kissed something other than your ass, hey ice queen?" Smirking nastily, Mato folded his arms behind his head and began walking off. "Hey Urd, I'm gonna go talk to God. You two have fun ranting about how much of an asshole I am, ok?"

Pressing a hand over her face, Urd let out a long sigh. _Is it possible to die from frustration?_

Lind, on the other hand, was sitting on her behind where she had fallen, sputtering to herself. After a moment, she squeezed her eyes shut and threw back her head. "I _hate_ that man!"

_Oh yeah, totally saw that one coming. Am I good or what?_ "Yeah yeah, I know, I know. Everybody hates me, join the club." _Now all I have to do is waltz in and blab with God for a bit. Hmm, should I have asked for them to warn everyone I was coming, or do I just want to fight my way through legions of Einheriar? Well gee, which one would be more fun?_ "Heads up holy folks, guess who's back?"

-

Questions and comments welcome.


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